Solutions: Storing Honey

I buy the plastic squeeze bottles of honey at the grocery store and they always drip and leave a "honey ring" in my cabinet. So here's a great tip. Put the honey bottle right inside a mason jar or other jar that it will fit into. No more honey drips! The drips stay in the jar and with a lid on it, the bugs and ants aren't attracted to it!

My family loves honey and I have had bottles turn to sugar because I did not store it correctly. To maintain quality, honey has to be stored properly - in a closed container, in a dry location and at room temperature, about 70 to 75 F. Honey tends to absorb moisture, which can reduce its quality. The higher the temperature at which honey is stored the more likely it is to be damaged.

During storage, honey gradually becomes a darker color and changes flavor and composition. Differences will become noticeable after four months. For longer-term storage, freeze honey. Freezing stops such changes almost completely and preserves all the honey's natural goodness. Do not store honey in the refrigerator, where temperatures can cause it to crystallize quickly. If this happens, remove the lid and place the jar in warm water until the crystals dissolve. You can also dissolve the crystals by heating the honey in the microwave only a few seconds at a time. Be careful not to burn it. Honey is one of the few foods that is naturally low in pesticide contamination because contaminated bees die before they reach the hive. Honey is also free of preservatives and artificial flavors and colors, and it will not mold. For equal sweetening power, substitute 2/3 to 3/4 cup honey for each cup of sugar.

The amount of honey that can replace sugar in cookies varies with the type of cookie: Replace no more than one-third the sugar with honey in crisp cookies like gingersnaps; honey can replace one-half the sugar in brownies, and up to two-thirds the sugar in fruit bars.

You can replace all the sugar in puddings, custards, pie fillings, baked apples, candied sweet potatoes, sweet-and-sour vegetables, salad dressings, sauces and glazes. Use honey to replace up to half the sugar in cakes; however, reduce the liquid called for by one-fourth cup for every cup of honey used.

A honey moat keeps the ants away from the honey jar! We eat very little sugar. We even use honey in our coffee in place of sugar. It's quite hard not to attract ants when you use honey as much as we do. Not liking honey that comes directly from the refrigerator, it dawned on me one day to place the jar of honey in a bowl of water.

Walla! It works great! Ants can't swim. If they try, they do the "back stroke" then sink to the bottom of the bowl. Most don't even try! Replace the water in the bowl often.

Placing the lid on the quart jar, then running warm soapy water over the jar also helps to keep the honey clean. We place our coffee cup up against the water bowl "moat" so any drizzle of honey that is dripping from the spoon will go into the moat as well.

Cold honey is harder to work with, not to mention the fact you use more as it ends up a heaping spoon full when used cold, directly from the quart jar. Honey is expensive so using it wisely helps offset the cost. Eat more honey. It's so good and good for you!